Nick’s 6/16 WZ Column: “Who Was Trumped Monday Night?”

So what do I think is ultimately going to happen here? Trump will not last long as the owner of Raw. I see the angle lasting until Summerslam, if it lasts that long, but eventually we will see Vince get the brand back somehow. If this is the route WWE is going, then I say go for it, because it could make for some really fun programming during the summer, and then everything will go back to the way it was before the angle began. But if this is a long term thing that Vince and Trump have planned, I have only one request of The Donald: stick around. The fans deserve it.

Let’s shift gears now and take a quick look at how the media has already begun to report this story and why Vince has to be laughing his ass off in his office at WWE Headquarters (I mean, Donald’s new office). TVGuide.com ran a story on the sale of Raw yesterday, and interestingly enough it has subsequently been taken down from the site. One of the "morons" in the TV Guide office that watches wrestling must have told one of the really "smart" reporters who is above watching wrestling that this was an angle and was not to be reported as an actual news story. So who’s being trumped here?

Vince loves to toy with the media just as much as he loves getting its attention whenever he can. Personally, I don’t blame him. The mainstream sports and TV media have collectively shit on his product for years now, so he owes nothing to them besides a rib here and there, and he sure landed a nice one this past Monday night with the Trump angle.

But more fascinating to me than this idea of Vince constantly prodding and poking the media is the fact that the media consistently falls for these angles every time they’re run. There’s always several outlets who are left scratching their heads over angles, questioning their legitimacy, and when it’s discovered that the angles are not legitimate, the media tries to cover up its idiocy by blaming Vince for promoting a product that is confusing and "fake."

Will we ever live in a society where people accept pro wrestling as a work?

Pro wrestling is a television show people, and the media’s stubborn refusal to accept it as such only proves IT to be the moron here, not the people that watch wrestling on a weekly basis and have understood the nature of the business being a work for years now.

In closing, I have a few questions for the writer of the TV Guide story that came out yesterday:

"Why didn’t you write any reports on the many acts of terrorism that took place this past season on "24?" Seems like a bigger news story than Trump buying Raw, right?

"When Monica and Chandler had their babies on "Friends," did you ask if you could attend the baby shower?"

"Will we ever live in a society where people accept pro wrestling as a work?"

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